The Stargazers, Part 1 Earth of a Thousand Names
by The Stargazers
Summary: Dessa was just a normal Mufiyan, until she met Lumineya and started her journey as Asuyuka. Now she has to deal with alternate hers, a cyborg and his thrown together, ragtag group of interdimentional heros, and worst of all, a demon who wants her dead
1. The Suedo

Prolouge 1- The Suedo

A young girl was sitting by herself in the middle of a very large library, looking over some scrolls. The bells struck five, which was picked you by the strange ears on top of her head. Along with her human ears, she had a pair of fox-like ears among her brown hair, shimmering silver. She was Dessa Khyla-Imagi Deruyah, a member of the Mufiyan tribe. About seventeen, she was considered insane by those who did not know her well, and hyper by all.

She stood up, showing her fox tail, also shimmering silver from her tailbone nearly to the floor. Her feet were more like paws then anything else, wrapped in the same shimmering sliver fur as her ears and tail; this was not unusual for her culture. All of them have animal traits, from wolfs or hawks, or even snake traits can be shown. She wore her usual tan shirt and short skirt with a tan choker and a blue/green checkerboard pattern around the bottom of her skirt and shirt.

She rolled up the scrolls, and figuring no one would mind if she borrowed them for a bit, took them with her. She made her way out side, to the town center for the ceremony, Sudeo.

Sudeo was held every fall at the equinox in celebration of the harvest. And so the cold nights would come and bring them grand views of the stars and the dead. She was one of the three dancers in the ceremony, along with her sisters, symbolizing Mohka (the Sun), Mehla (the Moon), Thyma (the Stars) and Hyshma (Life). She was to represent Thyma and Mehla, with her older sister, Seruyah, being Mohka, and her younger, Neomancia, being Hyshma.

As she appeared in the plaza of her small town she looked at the pile of wood and spare articles that was set up for the bonfire. She moved to a table where she picked up a tambourine that she would be playing for a short while. While doing so she look around at the stalls set up, full of food and games she remembered as very fun, it was more of a festival then an actual ceremony. The night would start with the three sisters bringing the monument to an altar in the front of the fire to honor all they valued of the previous and coming months.

Soon night fell and the sisters were dressed for the ceremony. They held up a small Asiatic monument for their ancestors; it looked like a large dollhouse, and was lightweight. They marched down the aisle, with Seruyah carrying most of the weight, and gently laid it down in front of the altar. Then they backed away and bowed to it with all the people watching them perform their duty. Dessa then approached and walked behind it to read the usual rites and a sermon. (Being in the native tongue of her people, I will not write the sermon here, for it loses most, if not all of it's meaning in the translation.) The bell then sounded, ending the sermon and beginning the festivities.

Dessa was about to join in when she had an odd feeling that she could not explain. She would had ignored it, had something not happened soon after…


	2. The Ceremony

Prologue 2- The Ceremony

Dessa took her place behind the altar, along with her sisters. Suddenly the siblings stood completely still, as if death had taken them early. Then Dessa opened her eyes, slightly glowing green. Her voice was drastically different when she spoke and it was obvious it was not her who spoke.

"This is to tell you that this girl now channels the voice of Lumineya, the Illusion and Judgment; the Mehla and Thyma as well as the La-Hyshma (Rebirth). The Mehla, Thyma, and Moka have aligned with the altar this night. To those of you who know what this means it is already too late…"

Seruyah then channeled another deity, " I am Aurora, keeper of Yuka (Light), The Mohka, Raisha (Time), and Hyshma. Listen to the youngest, for she knows what she says…"

Neomanica then awoke, her eyes glowed slightly blue, "I am Umbrae, the Shadow and Light amongst the Darkness; I am Balance and Darkness, I am Eyno (Death). Now the time has come.

The sisters them formed a triangle and the sky grew dark and stormy. Then they spoke together, as though they were one.

"Neiyo tihka deusio lythma tawio kai deiy yuka..." ("Night take these lost up into your light"). They chanted this over and over, growing loader with each repeat as the storm overhead worsened. Suddenly a bolt of lighting came down, hit Dessa and knocked her out.

"Wake up..." A voice came to her though the darkness covering her eyes; slight, but powerful it spoke again. "Wake up…"

She slowly opened her eyes, and saw a temple of some sort. She lay on a bed draped in white, on top of a platform. Down the staircase, at the bottom of the platform was a strange animal. It had the body of a fox, but the tail, legs, and ears of a cat with silver-purple fur covering it. She realized instantly that it had been the voice that had called to her, even though she had never seen the animal nor heard the voice before.

"Poor little thing…my name is Lumineya…" Dessa was confused and a little puzzled at the sound of the name.

"Ah, I see…sorry, I forgot…you don't remember anything do you? Well no matter, I was only to give you your instructions for your mission…"

Lumineya looked into what appeared to be a dark sky, purple and blue, filled with more stars then she had ever imagined. "This is the Celestial Door, when you return here you shall be ready to complete your mission. You have been chosen, of the remaining Myfiyan, your people, to survive…what a horrible time freeze. Well, on to business…"

"I entrust you, as keeper of the Nova, to complete this...in order to restore your planet as well as your memories, you will need to travel though time, space, and dimensions to collect the scattered shards of Nova. First you shall be sent to a small planet, third from it's star, which some call Sol. The planet's name is Earth; there you shall meet a young man who has a terrible burden, and a darkness screaming to be freed. Hopefully you will then find the first Nova shard, I will explain more then…"

She turned away, then stopped and looked back. "Oh, before I forget, you need a new name." She looked back in to the Door, searching for something. "Let's see, one that he'll recognize, and easy for him to connect to you, you'll really only need to be recognized by the first one, hm…ah! I got it." She looked back at Dessa. "For now you will go by the name of Asuyuka Meya Kimeno. Now, until we meet again…

With that said, the Door disappeared from her mind completely, her spirit being sent to Earth. With a new name, she set out as Asuyuka Meya Kimeno, wonderer for the Constellations…


	3. Awakeing

Chapter 1- Awakening

She awoke next to a metal sculpture. The night was hotter then it was cool, but felt like that would change. Her paw/feet were stuffed into shoes a bit too narrow and socks that only served to make her hotter then she already was. Her arms were barely covered by the short sleeves of a blue shirt and a pair of blue jeans served to cover up her leg fur and hide her tail, which was strapped somewhat painfully to her right leg. Her fox ears were the most comfortable, that was to say that they were hidden under a hat with a small brim above her face. She stood up, and noticed that the sculpture she had woken up next to was part of a small landscape for a small building. Across a wide black surface was another, larger building with large orange letters glowing near the top.

"The Home Depot," she read aloud, stuttering on the last unfamiliar word. She decided that she wanted to look at it from a different angle. She crossed the wide black area to her left, and was about to cross over it again to get into position when a hand stopped her just in time to prevent her from being rammed by a large metal animal with wheels.

"You're supposed to stop on the red light," The stranger said. She turned and met with a hat like she had, with the brim down to cover the eyes and a white interlaced "B" on a green background. Little could be told from the stranger's appearance, a gray long coat covered his (her?) body and the hair, brown and while somewhat long could just mean they needed a haircut. The only clue was the voice, which was masculine.

"Thank you, I'll remember that," she replied, disturbed that she hadn't heard them come up to her.

"You better, now come," the stranger walked away, and disappeared around a corner as she had just barely crossed the black area. She then stood in front of a gap between two other buildings. Suddenly a hand grabbed her mouth and pulled her into the gap. There two men stood there, as if waiting for her.

"Nice catch you got there."

"Best one yet Cleave."

She struggled, but a knife to her neck stopped her.

"Now, now, wouldn't want to hurt you and scar that pretty little face of yours."

"LEAVE HER ALONE." The stranger was back, this time reaching into his coat for something.

"Yeah right, what are you gonna do about it ya queer?"

They came towards the stranger, all holding knives out towards him, seeming to forget about her. Suddenly, there was a blur of silver and a flash of blue as red blood suddenly spewed forth from the middle one's chest. The hat was off the stranger's head, revealing dark brown eyes that matched his hair. The coat was open and underneath was a red shirt, patched for decoration and a pair of blue jeans. His voice rang out, commanding, sure, and letting the threat of death hang in the air.

"I am Commander Nathaniel Reed Bruce, should any of you make a move you will not live to regret it."


	4. The Commander

Chapter 2- The Commander

The men stopped, puzzled.

"You lie, Commander Bruce has a scar going down his face from the left over his right eye," One of them said.

"I hide it," Bruce responded.

"Yeah right, eat THIS!" The man lunged at Bruce. Bruce acted swiftly and with out mercy, snapping the man's neck in two as his body continued forward, right on to the black area. The last man lost his nerve and went back to Asuyuka, knife to her neck again. Bruce then reached for something on the left side of his face right where his hairline was and pulled. Fake skin came off as a pure white scar was shown to run from there, across his right eye and to his jaw ending under his right ear.

"Stay back! I, I'll, I'll, I'll kill her if you don't." The man was shaking so bad that he knocked off Asuyuka's hat, showing her sliver fox ears. He recoiled, and would have cut her face, had Bruce not come in, pulled her away and snapped his arm in three places. He yelped as Bruce moved in on him. His sword reappeared from inside his coat and he held it threateningly at him.

"Do you wish to die?" The man whimpered something as an answer.

"I SAID, DO YOU WANT TO DIE?" the man whimpered again, but said.

"N-n-n-no, com-com-Commander Br- Bruce."

"Very well then. If you ever harm the innocent again I will personally oversee your slow death."

"Ye-yes, si-sir."

"Now leave my sight, before I change my mind." The man turned and ran away as fast as he could, forgetting that his arm was bending the wrong way in places that should not be bending. Bruce then held out a hand to Asuyuka, who had fell when he pulled her away from the man. She took it and met with his eyes. The left one seemed to stare into her soul, which was disturbing enough without the right one seeming to have nothing in common with the left except the dark brown color.

"Sorry about that, had a feeling that you were from out of town."

"Thank you Commander."

"I just saved you from those rapists, call me Nate.

"All right, Nate, I am Asuyuka Meya Kimeno. He seemed disturbed by this.

"Did you say 'Asuyuka'?"

"Yes, why?"

"That means we have a possible problem." He tapped something in his ear. "Bruce to base, we have a code 8, level red here, requesting immediate transport."

"This is base, code 8, level red acknowledged, transport commencing."

They disappeared into blue beams of light as they dematerialized.


	5. The UDD

Chapter 3- The UDD

They rematerialized in a room, with one woman standing behind a console in front and two men holding guns at each side, all wearing a uniform like Bruce's, but their shirt was tan and none of them had as many patches as him. One came forward, three bronze arrows with two half circles underneath on a plate on his right leg and red stripes near the end of his sleeves showed him as the leader of the men at the sides.

"Sir, what is the situation?" he asked Bruce.

"We've got a Code 8 right out of Alpha Team, Sergeant." Bruce told him.

"Alpha Team? Who?"

"That's not your concern," He said, taking off the coat and showing a similar set of blue stripes near the end of his sleeves and a plate on his right leg with silver lines going across it. "Right now your concern is to escort her to medical and have Doc Sterns check her out."

"Yes sir. Shall we run her though decon?"

"Not necessary, but have the good doctor put her though a clothes fabricator. If you need me I'll be in my office with the rest of the Alphas. Oh, and have someone check out the pattern buffer on this pad, it was a little slow on the transfer." Bruce walked out of the room, though a pair of doors that slid out of his way when he came close to them and closed as he walked away.

The Sergeant came toward her.

"Ma'am, if you'll follow me to medical."

"What? Oh, yes."

She stepped off the pad, onto the Sergeant's level, "Sorry, this is just so overwhelming. I feel as if I was torn to pieces."

"You just were, in a way."

"What do you mean?"

"That's the way a transporter works, it breaks you down at the molecular level and transmits you as energy to a point in space."

"How?"

"I'd explain, but that's about all I know myself. Now, if I could do my job…"

"Oh, sorry."

"It's okay, this sort of thing happens more often then most people think. Although this is the first time we've got one straight out of Alpha." They started walking out of the room; she kept looking at the door as it closed behind them.

"How does that work? Or do you not know?"

"I don't know the exact science behind it, but it's really just an over glorified track and belt system."

"Track and belt? You mean the door is just pulled along a hidden track?"

"Yeah, that's about it. High tech my ass, can't believe I transferred from the Corps for this."

"The Corps?"

"USMC, but that's a story for another time." They came to a door that didn't open for a few seconds, then opened to a round room with a map at the back. They got in and the Sergeant said, "Medical." She felt the room start moving when he had said this.

"What's going on?"

"Relax, the turbolift is just moving, it'll be over in a second." Sure enough, the door opened a little after he had said this to a room full of beeps, beds, and people in everything from almost nothing to red full-body suits going into another room. Then a woman with curly blond-brown hair and green eyes in a blue version of the uniform came towards them.

"Hi there Corman. Who's the girl?"

"The Commander bought her in, code 8 level red from Alpha team, wants a full scan done plus a clothes-fab run."

"Alpha team, you say? That's a first. Well, what's your name?"

"Asuyuka Meya Kimeno," She said straight at the woman

"Well, Miss Kimeno, if you'll just follow me we'll get you new clothes and a full check up. You're dismissed, Sergeant."

"Thanks, just my luck I catch her just before the next shift. See ya Liz." He stepped back into the turbolift as the two walked over to another door in a circler wall.


	6. Doctor's Visit

Chapter 4- Doctor's Visit

She was poked and prodded, told to lay on a bed that was as firm as a brick and remarkably less comfortable. Then they took samples of blood, hair, saliva, fur, fingernails, more blood, skin, urine, earwax, toe claws and even more blood. When she thought they had done every test they could they came up with more, and more, and more. Finally the Doctor took her to a small room and watched as another doctor, a man, perform the final test. By the time she had actually gotten clothes that fit well she was tired, hungry, thirsty, hot, and ready to kill the doctor who performed the final test. She sat on the edge of one of the beds while the doctors either thought of more tests or told their superiors the results. She was now wearing a purple T-shirt, shorts with a hole for her tail in the back and sandals specially made for her paws. People came back and forth out of the room, but only a handful caught her eye. This man with dirty blond hair and a goat came in and looked at her and then left after telling the doctor something. Next a short woman with long black hair and glasses came in. Although she never met her eyes Asu couldn't help but think that she was watching her. Then, three men came in to talk with the doctor. One had a near buzz cut that barely let his black hair show, another had mixed brown-blond hair and glasses, the last one had red hair and seemed a little more at ease then the other two. All of them came in, talked to the doctor, and then left in short order. No one else came in for several minutes, until Bruce came back in and came up to her.

"Sorry for the wait, just needed to get some things sorted out, if you'll come with me we can finish this quickly."

"Finish what?"

"Just a few questions, don't worry, it won't take long."

She followed him down the hall, into a turbolift, that took off with out a word.

"Where are we going?"

"Classified, and don't try anything, there are enough defenses that an army couldn't get though."

She became very still.

"That won't help you if the computer decides you're a risk."

The turbolift's doors opened to a hallway with four doors at the sides and a large one at the end with four people in different uniforms standing near it. This door was also the only one made of wood and the handles showed that it also had to be opened by hand, not by walking up to it. The four came to attention as soon as the door opened, and the two closest to the door opened it with obvious effort. They walked right past them, though the door into a dark room. The room had a chair in the middle of a circle of light, and a table that was covered in shadow except for the center where an empty, high backed, wooden chair was. To the side of it were four figures sitting down. The light was just so that she could see that they were there, but couldn't tell anything about them. Bruce took a seat at the chair in the light behind the table, leaving Asu the chair in front of the table. As soon as she sat down Bruce spoke.

"General inquiry, into a level 8, code red situation by the Council of the United Dimensions, full session. All council members present and accounted for on this, the 28th day of June, in the year 2005 A.D. in dimension U1. Being questioned is one Asuyuka Meya Kimeno, in being the sentient that made the ordering of the level 8 to be required under UDD regulation number 239.2b. Questioning will begin with the representative of dimension T1d."


	7. The Council

Chapter 5- The Council

The figure at the far left of the table stood, the out line showed it to be a man. He moved near the light, some times letting a sleeve into the light as he moved, showing a gray shoulder with a black sleeve and a red stripe at about the same place as Bruce's

"Where are you from?"

"I don't know," she answered him with little hesitation.

"How did you come to be in this Dimension?"

"Though the Celestial Door."

"What is that?"

" I don't know"

"Do you know how it works?

"No"

"You sure?"

"Yes." He moved back to the table, sitting as the next figure, also a man, came forward and Bruce said he was from L1td.

"Can you remember your parent's names?"

"No, I can't remember anything before I met Lumineya."

This brought murmurs from the figures at the right and the voices confirmed that Asu was right when she thought they were women. Then the man put his face into the light, showing light brown hair, a goatee, fair skin, and forest green eyes.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I remember nothing before I met her." The man turned and also sat back down. The order then skipped Bruce and went to the women next to him, from M1topd. Red, wavy hair shined as it hit the light.

"Who is this, Lumineya?"

"I don't know, a guide?"

"What does she look like?"

"She has the body of a fox, but the tail, ears, legs and face of a cat." The woman turned and sat down at her place, satisfied with the answers. Then the final figure stood, from D1, and came to the light, immediately showing half her face. She had long, straight blond hair, blue eyes, fair skin and pointed ears that ended away from her head.

"If you were to tell me what Lumineya is, what would be the first word that came to mind?"

"Um…I'd have to say that she seemed like a Goddess."

"Was there any visual clues that would make you say that?"

"Not that I can think of." She returned to her seat. They sat there for a long time, until a black glass marble was thrown into the light, from the man next to Bruce. Then came a white marble from the other man and from the woman next to Bruce. Another black marble was thrown by the woman with the pointed ears. Then Bruce sat there for a while, clearly thinking. Finally, he threw a clear marble in to the light surrounding her. Then he said.

"Two votes for, two votes against, with one abstention. In the interests of security, a majority for is hereby declared. Lieutenant Ash, please come forward."

A woman from the shadows behind Asu stepped into the light, and she gasped. She looked just like her. She had no tail, her eyes were hazel, ears were clearly human, but they could have been twins other wise. Then, a scythe appeared in a beam of light in front of her, as Ash expanded the metal bar she now held into one.


	8. Mirror Match

Chapter 6- Mirror Match

Ash came at Asu, jumping up to put extra force into the overhead swing…or so it seemed. At the last minute she came from the left and Asu barely had time to block it. Ash then swirled and jabbed the end of the scythe at her stomach. Asu dodged, barely and then blocked the next slash, and then jabbed the end of her scythe into Ash's foot. If she felt any pain, it wasn't showing on her face or actions as she brought the scythe around and cut off about an inch of Asu's hair. A muttering came from the table, but quickly stopped as Asu managed to cut some of Ash's hair too. Asu had no idea how she was supposed to win, as Ash came repeatedly and left no openings that she could see.

Asu spun as she came to block another slash from the side, then felt something warm and wet on top of her head, then realized it was her blood. Ash had cut off a good half an inch of her ear and she hadn't noticed. At the table Bruce started to make a motion, then stopped midway. Ash came back around and made a slash to the ankles. Asu jumped over, but it still caught a bit of tail. Ash then made a series of long, interlocked loops that left more hair on the floor and small cuts over Asu's arms. Then a sudden jab to the chin stunned her long enough for Ash to move in and punch her in the nose. She fell, losing her scythe. Ash came over and held the scythe's blade inches away from Asu's neck. Then Bruce spoke.

"That, thankfully, won't be required Barb."

Ash moved back and collapsed her scythe back into a small metal pole that she put on her belt.

"The council has determined that she is not a modified clone of you."

"Good, may I please get back to my job now?"

"Just a moment, afterwards please."

"Alright, I'll be outside."

Ash left though the double doors as the figures at the table murmured to one another.

"Giving her Charlie is too much of a risk, she could have sleeper programming."

"And what if her story is true and there is a possible new risk from this Lumineya or another from her dimension? Echo is to little if she remembered something we need to know."

"You are over looking a level, you two."

"You want to give her Delta level clearance?"

"That would be a compromise."

"…Alright"

Bruce motioned to one of the guards at the door "Petty Officer, please assign guest quarters for Miss Kimeno. And get her to sickbay to take care of those cuts."

As Asu followed the guard they passed by Ash again. She looked up for a moment, then slid down the wall and put her arms around her knees with her forehead on them.


	9. Pep Talk

Chapter 7- Pep Talk

Bruce came out of the council room and saw Ash sitting against the wall. He went over to her and sat down next to her.

"Sorry about that, but any other vote would have gotten me discounted and the majority declared anyway."

"That doesn't make it any better."

"I know, but at least this way I know that they know that I didn't want to put you though this fifty years from now."

"Nate, you're the seventeen-year-old cyborg twice savior of five dimensions, and the face of the most dangerous dimension known; you can stop thinking that anyone will forget your life anytime soon."

"Hey, who helped out the second time?"

"I did, but don't change the subject."

"Okay, just saying that no one will forget about you anytime soon either."

"I hope they forget this part"

"I hope so too, but I wouldn't bet on it."

"Can I get back to the Genetics Lab now?"

"What are you working on anyway?"

"That Human Enhancement project you set me up on, Mister Catholic."

"Hey, I don't like it either, but it will give us an edge and save lives…By the way, we got a letter from that girl we saved two weeks ago in LA.

"Autumn? The one that was in a car crash and parents didn't make it? Isn't she five?"

"Yeah, more of a drawing really, from what I can tell, I'm a muscle bound superman who ripped the entire car apart just to get her, and you're a female version of Nightcrawler with out the blue fur and tail."

"That's inventive, how good is it?"

"Better then anything I ever did in art. Speaking of art, wanna come to the play I'm in? _The Punishment of Penthor_."

"Greek?"

"Style, written about a hundred years ago in T1d.

"Sure, what time is it?"

"Right now, I've gotta go or it gonna be the understudy instead of me as Penthor."

"Then lets go."

Asu walked into the room the Petty Officer assigned her. Her hair was back to normal length and all the cuts were healed in a second by the woman doctor. The room was split into two sections, one for sleeping, one for eating, and had a bathroom at the end of the sleeping area. Two paintings and a vase of fake flowers where the only decoration. The sheets, while purple and obviously feminine, where also very plain. She picked up the only book in the room _A Study of the Canine Brain Volume 2: Foxes _by Lt. (jg) Jared Wonnacott. And set it on the nightstand where it would help her get to sleep. She then said to herself,

"I wonder where Nate is?"

"Commander Bruce is in the Amphitheatre," said a female voice from the ceiling. "For directions please pick up the PADD on the table and press "Directions".

She picked up the flat cup coaster like object and pressed the button near the bottom. She then followed the directions out the door.


	10. The Play

Chapter 8- The Play

Asu walked into the auditorium, rows upon rows of chairs formed a semi-circle around the stage. In the middle of the stage was Bruce; he wore a tunic of pure white with a line of purple around the edge. He also wore a mask; the left side was beautiful, everything about it was perfect, the ear, the eye, the nose. This was shown too in his hair, which was neatly slicked back and had a shine to it. The right side was a different matter entirely. It was hideous, from the pointed teeth in the mouth to the small horn growing out of the fore head. This was also shown in the hair, as on this side it was ragged, unkempt, and greasy. He was speaking out to the audience, his voice loud and holding a strong conviction behind it.

"…Did I not burn the arsonist? His punishment was not enough, nay; I say that had he survived he would have been burned once for every house. And the murderer? Did he not get what he deserved? To have been killed by starvation was too kind a death, much kinder then he deserved. Where ever I went, I made sure justice followed, as swift as the sun itself, and much swifter then any mortal man could dream of. Surely, I am here, near the peak of Mount Olympus, to be rewarded by almighty Zeus. Surely they have prepared a spot for me. Hush now, they come.

Three men, wearing tunics of pure white came down, lifted by a machine just above them. The one on the left held a Helmet that gleamed in the light. The one on the right held a golden spear with three points at its end. The last held a bolt of lighting, and his head was ringed by an olive branch.

"All powerful sons of Kronos and Rheia, how may I serve you?

The middle one spoke. "Penthor, you are here to be punished."

"Punished? What do you mean mighty Zeus?"

"You preformed great evil during your time among mortals," said the left one.

"Hades, lord of the dead, what evil do you speak of? Did I not punish those who preformed crime most heinous?"

"That was not your crime Penthor," said the right one. "Your crime was more villainous then any crime you punished."

"You punished the Guilty, but you neglected the innocent."

"That crime carries more weight then a dozen murders. You have no place in any realm we can find. Therefore, you shall be sent back into the mortal realm as little more then a shadow. You shall see the innocent that you failed to protect, and be powerless to help them"

Bruce started shaking, "Merciful Zeus, please, any other punishment. Let me share in Tantalus's torture, anything but that."

"I have been merciful, in that this punishment is not forever, but when it is up, you shall not be rewarded in anyway."

The three rose, as the lights dimmed and centered around twelve men in tunics of gray.

"The one who punishes the guilty is himself guilty. The one who took lives, but saved none will no longer have any power. And when he does come among the dead, it shall be as little more then nothing." At this all the lights turned off as the stage disappeared in the darkness.


	11. Breakthough

Chapter 9- Breakthough

Bruce came toward the lights, the mask making him as Penthor, off. He bowed to the crowd and raised his hand as the audience came down towards the stage. Asu took this as a necessity, and went right up to Bruce. He was with eight others, Ash was among them, and so were the men from sickbay and the short black haired woman. The only people she didn't recognize was a young man, cubby to the point of fat, but otherwise he looked like a younger, taller Bruce and a lanky man with semi-long blond hair back in a loose ponytail and a light, scruffy looking beard. They all wore the same uniform, how Bruce could change that fast amazed her, but the color red was the most common followed by blue, with only one wearing the tan-gold kaki that was all round them. As she came towards them the man with the chin-beard look at her then spoke in Bruce's ear. He turned and looked her right in the eyes again with that piercing gaze.

"Ah, Miss Kimeno, I hope you like the performance."

"I really didn't see much of it."

"Too bad, my brother says it was good, and with him, that's saying a lot.

"If I said anything else you'd have me scrubbing the base's exhaust system for weeks," said the one with just the chin beard.

"Oh, come on, you think that he'd do that?" said the one who looked like Bruce.

"Ian, you being the only one here who I can boss around, shut up."

"As High Guards, you can't do that."

"Ian, I'm gonna have to back Ryan up on this one, you have the very annoying habit of speaking out of turn. Besides, I believe that the regs actually back him up since I'm actually off duty for another two minutes. Anyway, what can I do for you Kimeno?"

"I was just wondering what I should do?"

"Should? No, could, well theirs a lot of hollowdeck programs, I like the fields of Alderaann for relaxing and theirs also the unarmed combat sim, just keep it at level 1 for now…." He was interrupted by a voice,

"Ops to Bruce."

"This is Bruce, go ahead."

"Sir, we're reading a breach in you section."

He let out a sigh, "third time this week. You're sure it's not a power flow problem with the secondary grid?"

"Sir, we're reading a constant signal. It's impossible for any failure to make this sort of signal."

"This coming from a Rouge tech," he muttered. "Run a another diagnostic, evac level 4."

"Sir, something just got put onto the bulkhead behind you."

Bruce looked at the others. "Evac level 2, yellow alert. You should get out of here." He had just enough time to tell her that before wall behind him blow up, sending shards of heated and twisted metal out as the crowd stampeded for the door, leaving only Bruce's group and Asu in the room, as a transporter beam put a large metal pack on the man with the ponytail's back the rest either drew or expended their weapons as a laugh came from the site of the explosion

"Number 19, since then Bruce, and I must say I out did myself this time." The dust cleared to show a man with curly black hair and yellow eyes holding two swords like Bruce with dozens of half-men half-machine in black cloaks behind him his skin was very pale, and looked greasy.

"I doubt you expected me to come so soon after our last meeting."


	12. Priorites

Chapter 10- Priorities

"Rath, Beth, Barb, give us some cover fire," Bruce said. They nodded and the man with the long hair, the short black-haired woman and Ash pulled out wands. The crowd that was behind them was gone, the door covered by a solid block of metal.

"Scott, James, Jared, flank 'em." Bruce now stood with his brothers in front of the hole blasted in the wall. Then his voice echoed around the room as he spoke to the man.

"Why did you come here Steven?"

"To keep you on your toes."

"So this is Roche 4 all over again?"

"Pfft, Roche had a research station on it."

"Ah, so the bombing of Big Ben."

"You won't stop me this time."

"Good, I'll just have to actually try this time."

Steven was about the charge Bruce, but his eye caught sight of Asu.

"Now what have we here? I thought you UDDs had rules dealing with cloning."

Bruce turned back to look at her. "Oh…shit," he muttered and nodded to the others. They reformed into a line, and Beth and Ash switched back to their scythe and katana.

Asuyuka met the gaze as he saw her, tensing up immediately. She had no idea who this was, but the aura he gave off sent chills up her spine. When she heard him speak, her ears perked up and she lowered her tail and made it straight, growling just enough to be heard. As the group reformed she took a defensive stance, forming a pair of brass knuckles out of the air. Her ears sucked back into her skin, same with her tail and fur.

"And a shape shifter to boot, nice work, Nate."

"What?" Bruce turned around. "Barb…do you know of this?"

Ash turned, "that is part of her powers…but something's wrong."

"What would that be?"

"I don't know…"

"HA! Don't even know about your own creations Bruce?" Steven laughed.

"We didn't make her."

"Sure, you just picked her up on the side of the road or in an alley. Either way, she does seem to need proper study."

"Your version of proper study is more like dissection."

"No, I have another idea…New objective," he said to the man/machines. "Get the clone." He and his followers ran towards them.

Bruce considered every possible action in the 3…no, 3.697 seconds until they all got into a mess of a battle. He wasn't sure who he should protect or not. The targeting system of his eye told him the priority was to protect the base and the personal under his command. But he had read a lot of Barb's stories, and he knew what he needed to do, and added another objective to the list: Assure the survival of Asuyuka Meya Kimeno. …He just hoped that he hadn't made a mistake.


	13. Captured

Chapter 11- Captured

Rath opened fire at the swarm around the hole, letting energy, explosions and shrapnel cover the area as the arms of the backpack he wore spit out an amazing amount of firepower in rockets, energy orbs, and laser beams. The effect was noticeable, but did nothing to stop the survivors as they left the wounded where they lay. The older Bruce, with the chin beard, was the first to use his sword, as he threw it. It cut the legs out of one, then landed the point into two of them.

Absolute chaos was all that could be said after that. Everyone jumped, slashed, parried, trusted, and punched at anyone in their way. Yet, none of the 10 ever hit one another. They all seemed to make a morbid dance, leaving blood and parts and the dead behind them in a graceful series. No one missed a beat as Rath joined, swapping his backpack mounted siege weapon for a short sword. Then as clear as day Bruce and Steven met.

Bruce stood with his arms out wide, inviting the other in to a trap. He parried the trust, and put a right hook where Steven's jaw was half a second earlier. Steven slashed upwards and downwards. But Bruce was not easily trapped, as he batted both swords away with his right, then made a wide, looping slash with his left. Their skills with their blades evenly matched, or so it seemed. Steven let lose a bolt of blue lightning that Bruce caught and sent it at a man/machine that was about to come down on Beth. Bruce then sent a swirl of red and green light at Steven with his fingers. It was then that Asu decided to break the careful balance that Bruce had maintained.

She came in, brass knuckles hitting Steven's head soundly. Steven recovered quickly and made a hasty slash at her, which she caught on the knuckles. Steven now had to fight two instead of just one. He decided to fix that, by dropping a fist sized box on the ground, and a count down started on its digital display.

"You have two minutes before a twenty megaton blast rips this place apart. I suggest you start working on hacking its clock now."

Bruce looked at the box, then Steven. Steven was fighting Asu; there was only one choice. He knelt and opened up his right arm implant and plugged the proper cord into the slot. It took little more then half a second to disarm the bomb, but the bomb had done enough. Bruce looked up just in time to see a hypospray pour a sedative into Asu's blood stream. Steven, with Asu over his shoulder, went back to the hole and left in the digging machine that Bruce hadn't noticed thought the mob and the fighting. The drones were almost all dead by now, so he had time to think. To think about the growing sense of doom in his stomach.


	14. The Demon and the Apprentice

Chapter 12- the Demon and the Apprentice

Bruce turned to the others, all of the henchmen having been taken care of.

"Any ideas of what we should do about that snatch and run?"

"We need to go after him," Jared said. "If for nothing more then morale."

"It's more then that…" Barb said. "She was channeling much more power then she should be able to here."

"So you're saying that if she's turned by Steven it's gonna be a huge mess?" Ryan asked.

"Look, we're running out of time here," James said. "Now's not the time to get advice, it's time for action."

"Right. Scott, Rath, Ryan, get up to the Unity. Protocol 2."

"Got ya," Scott raised his hand to his earpiece. "Horgan to Unity, three to beam up." They disappeared into the swirling blue beam.

"Beth, Jared, Ian, you three supervise the repair and upgrade of this area, I want better proximity sensors. Barb, James, you're with me, we're gonna follow his trail."

"That will take too long on foot," James said.

"I have a new prototype I want to try for this."

"…I'll get the barf bags," was all Barb said as she headed towards the doors to sickbay.

A thousand volts of pain rushed though Asuyuka's body, making her skin feel as though it was on fire. The pain stopped as Steven stopped shooting lightning from his hand.

"What do you want?" She asked, pleading for him to stop.

"Want?" He laughed, a laugh full of hate and contempt that made every hair and her body stand on end. "I want nothing from you but your screams." This time he raised his other hand, his right, and although no lighting came out the pain did. She screamed and writhed as the pain raced other her, making her want to rip her skin off just to stop the pain. "And when I no longer have those, then you shall be mine," he grabbed her chest. "In more way then one." The lighting came back, as her spine curved the laughs got louder. She passed out, her body still writhing. Steven let the lighting slowly stop as a dark shadow came up from Asu.

"You wish for power, do you not?" the shadow asked.

"I have power already."

"Yes, but not enough, you want more. Tell me, how would you like to rule over these five dimentions you know of, free from your masters."

"You gonna make an offer, or am I gonna wait all day?"

"All you have to do is this, throw the fight with Bruce."

"No way! I've got him right where I want him."

"Listen to me, if you fight him now you will lose. But, if you waited another week or so your victory would be assured."

"All right, fair enough. What do you get out of it?"

"Don't worry about that, just see that you hold up your end."

"Hm… you got a deal."

"Good, I will call you when the time is right to fight Bruce." The shadow disappeared back into Asu, leaving no evidence of it ever being there.


	15. Storm the Castle

Chapter 13- Storm the Castle

The tracked vehicle went over another hill in the uneven tunnel made by Steven's digging machine. It flew up, barely missing the top of the tunnel. Officially it was designated as APC model 29P, to all of its test drivers it had been christened The Barf Mobile. As it rounded another bend at 135 mph Barb reached over for another bag to keep her rapidly decreasing lunch. As she used it James took stock of their remaining bags.

"She's used about a third of the bags she brought, not counting the two already in here."

"Thanks for the update," Nate was driving. Its speedometer went as high as 500mph, but the manual transmission and the amount of jumps and sharp turns in the tunnel kept them well below that.

"You two never had a weak stomach," she said.

"Oh, yeah…remember that time on Frokis Three, with that hospital."

"Like I needed remindi…Oh…" She grabbed for another bag, and barely made it to her mouth on time. Unfortunately another jump came, splashing it all over her nose and mouth.

"Oh, I did not need to see that." James said, and they landed. Some of it had gotten on his uniform.

"Then stop saying things like that." Suddenly it came to a screeching halt as Nate slammed the brakes.

"What was that for?" Barb asked.

"That," Nate pointed at a metal door in front of them. He opened his door and flipped open his tricorder one handed, and scanned the door. James and Barb followed suit quickly.

"It's made of solid steel, three feet thick."

"Well, that rules out Lightsabers."

"As well as Magic."

"This time it looks like explosives…but it'll have to be quick, there's a force field rigged to kick in with in two seconds."

James took control of the Barf Mobile as Barb and Nate set charges all around the door. Then, when Barb got back in, Nate hung on to the front incase the force field went up he would be flung into the base. All of them agreed that he could recover from broken bones faster then them. James pressed the pedal down to the floorboard as it leaped forward. Then, with the door maybe a foot away from Nate's nose he pushed the button and the door exploded inward. Nate flew off and sliced the nearest two guards down, their white armor splattered with red as Barb and James flew out of their doors. Barb's Scythe had already taken down three and James' Katana and Jitte took down four. But they were upon them now, the alarm having sounded the moment the door blew. As red and green fire swarmed them they kept up their rampage, hoping they weren't already too late.


	16. Defence Plans

Chapter 14- Defence Plans

The alarm rang though out the base as Steven's older brother Donald burst though the doors of the torture room

"We have a problem," He said coming right to Steven. Steven, still lightning Asu's body said.

"Another reactor leak? I'm going to have to kill that idiot of a chief engineer."

"No, Nate's here." Steven stopped and turned to his brother.

"So soon...how many?"

"Just three, Nate, James, and Barbara."

"Really? Then call our apprentices, let the senior one lead them in a charge against them. Even if they fall it will be so amusing to see how completely we have broken them."

"Steven, I'm going to say that we shouldn't lose this base, it is too valuable. It is a mere one hundred miles away from their Base One."

"A diamond that has turned into coal can not be made a diamond again. This base has outlived its usefulness; we shall move everything we can to the Io base and regroup there. And, if our new benefactor keeps their end of the bargain we will no longer need to hide our bases from the puny fleet of the UDD."

"Two points, first, two permanent capital class ships is hardly a fleet. Second, you have not told me of any new benefactor."

"I just hammered out the deal. I throw this fight, and in a week all five of our dimentions shall be ours."

"A very good deal. I trust that the Masters know nothing about this plan?"

"Not a thing. But just in case…" He reached towards the table next to Asu's body and took a hypospray. He injected it into her neck and within moments she was awake again, her eyes blank. The mind control serum had a less permanent affect then a will suppresser, but it could only ware off, not be destroyed. Steven gave her a metal bar that instantly turned into a scythe much like Barb's.

"You will defend this room and all current occupants in it," Donald told her. She assumed a defensive stance as the only command the serum allowed activated.

"We shall see Nate's resolve to keep order and piece as he is forced to fight against one of his own, in a way."


	17. Takedown

The barrage of red and green lessened slightly as seven people, all dressed in black with a cape of either green, bronze, silver, or in the case of the one in the middle leading them, gold. The leader was a tall woman with shockingly red hair streaked with blond. To her sides were the two wearing silver, to their sides the one wearing bronze. The ones wearing green brought up the rear, and here was found the only other woman among them. Steven and Donald seemed to have yet come up with a permanent roster for his so-called Omega Team. They were really supposed to be a mirror of Alpha Team, with each one of them being an opposite of another member. He supposed that was why the leader held a single katana and the ones next to her used a sword with a knife and a butterfly sword.

"Why, hello." He said, giving them a gentle wave with his right hand, sword and all.

"Mister Bruce, I have come to kill you," said the leader.

"When will people learn its Commander?" Nate opened his left arm implant, letting the chaingun's barrels come around the implant as all eight of them got into place. He then opened fire towards them, hitting a green cape as the rest scattered. The green cape staggered back, clutched his stomach, and then fell backwards. Nate remarked at the sloppiness of the shot inwardly as his swords met the leader's katana and a bronze's buckler. James's katana and jitte met the scythe and the short sword of a bronze with a jetpack. Barb's scythe met the butterfly sword and the knife. They all flipped back towards the others and formed a triangle with all their points covered.

"Any ideas?" James asked.

"Yeah, jump." Nate hit the ground with his fist as James and Barb jumped up, the shockwave from it knocked the others down, and James landed on jetpack and Barb landed on buckler, killing them both instantly. Nate took the time to throw his sword into butterfly's shoulder, pinning him. He then opened his right arm implant and extended the blade that he hid in it. Scythe then had quite a surprise as a hidden rocket motor in the connection joint fired, sending it right into her belly. She looked down, and then fainted backwards, letting the blade come out enough to slide out on to her face on the blunt end, but it killed her all the same. The other two tried to run, but quick de-leggings by James and Barb sealed their fate as they lost blood at an amazing rate. The only one guaranteed to live was butterfly, and he refused to faint, so they couldn't do anything for him to ease the pain. As they made their way towards the corridor they came though, Nate spotted a computer port and jacked one of his right arm's connection wires into it. Not having time to search it himself, he sent in his infiltration AI and had it route to his wireless com port. Jacking out, he helped Barb and James cut down the last of the guards either too stupid or too scared of Steven to run. They then followed the AI's instructions to the door, which held the Farris', and Asu. As they stepped into the darkened room he had just enough time to remark inwardly how things are never as simple as they seem.


	18. Asuyuka vs Nate

Steven was to the right, next to a rock slab, Donald on the left, neither of them had drawn their weapons.

"Hello Nate, so nice of you to come so soon."

"You knew I'd be here, so why are you still here?"

"If you must know, I had plans for killing you here, but certain...benefactors, have convinced me other wise. So you see,

I am here because you came too quickly for me to escape."

"Bullshit, you always had at least three ways out of a place."

"Actually I have four this time, but before I go, I must let you have a gift." He whistled, as if calling a dog and from behind the stone slab came.

"Asuyuka..." Ash breathed.

"Yes, nice name. Of course you'll have to excuse me from this, she is quite...hostile right now."

"What did you do?" James demanded.

"You'll find out in three hours, or when she dies, whichever comes first." He smirked as the platform he was on lowered itself and another plate covered the hold that it left. Then Asu came at them, scythe slashing at them. Bruce took the full hit, while James and Ash went around and tried to hit her with the blunt ends of their weapons. Suddenly, they were blown away by a gust that came from Asu. James landed head first, but it didn't seem to do anything but knock him out. Barbara, however, landed with her arm straight out, leading to a compound fracture that left her awake, but unable to do anything.

Nate, however, was left to deal with Asu, who, over no more then 10 minutes learned how to control a scythe well enough to keep him guessing. Left, right, up, trust, parry, fake, left, all of her moves blurred, leaving Nate at the distinct disadvantage. If he wanted to kill her, it would be all too easy, but he couldn't, something in the back of his mind told him that she needed to live. And in all honesty, it was probably the only thing that kept him from disarming her…literally.

His dislike of flashy moves aside, Nate realized that he had to use one now. Pushing her far enough away to be able to complete it, he formed two spheres in his hands, one gold, and the other purple. He pressed them together until they fused into one swirling mass of blue. This he split back into two; then threw them alternately, splitting the other sphere to remake the thrown one. This he kept up, with her blocking everyone. Something had to give, and it would not be one of them.

Suddenly, a ruby red beam hit her, making her fall and letting the scythe drop. Nate glanced over at James, who was up, and pointing his phaser at her limp body

"You ok?" Nate asked, flipping open the tricorder at his belt and taking a scan.

"Other then seeing double, super."

"You have a concussion, and blood pockets outside your skull."

"How are you Barb?" James leaned over to get a look at her.

"I can see my bone, what do you think?"

"Ready for the trip home then?"

"Hell no, I'm gonna have someone with an actual medic's qualification look at this first."

"You ruin all of my fun Barb," said Nate, helping James up. Then the base's computer, in a disturbingly bad mock-up of Steven's voice, came over the intercom.

"Attention, all personnel, the base's self destruct system has been activated, one minute to ant-matter detonation"

"I'd say that just ruined all of your fun."


	19. Back at Base

With less then one minute until the base was destroyed, Nate had to not only carry Asu, but also guide James away from walls, and keep Barb's arm set so the nanobots he injected could knit the bone enough to keep it from breaking again. All in all they made good time, with 14 seconds left on the timer they made it back to the Barf Mobile. By 8 seconds they were all in, and by 3 Nate had turned it around and gunned the engine. It leapt forward with a roar like a 747 taking off and the amount of air they caught on the first bump made it possible for the concussioned James to ask, "Why are we at LAX?"

Warning lights came on as he turned at 300 mph and the base exploded, letting a small fireball loose after them. The fireball over took them, but the hull took the heat without Nate even having to activate the emergency force fields to keep the heat out. From the gages it got to about 150 above spec, which was good because it was only rated for 125 above. As he slowed down he also considered how much Starfleet would give for a new ground-based vehicle like this.

They reached the base about 5 minutes later, and the med techs instantly carted the other three off to sickbay, leaving Nate and Scott alone in the now ruined theater.

"I told you to be on the Unity Scott," Nate said.

"We saw an explosion on the scale of the small anti-matter type and decided that it was ok to stand down."

"Alright, but I've got a new job for you."

"What?"

"While inside the base I hacked their computer with one of my AIs and saw that they were stealing basic cable for the entire base; so I want to you coordinate a search for stolen utilities, water, electricity, TV, phone, internet, anything. I want this world wide."

"Nate, you know as well as I do the situation in the middle and far east, if we do this it'll just be another bullet you give them to fire back at the US."

"Let me worry about politics, and remind them that we're not attached to the US government beyond the fact that we're citizens."

"Still…I would feel better if we had someone from over there in the UDD."

"Well, China said no flat out, and the recruiting stations in Israel and Saudi Arabia aren't pulling any numbers."

"I thought we had one in Iraq and Iran"

"Both bombed out in the middle of the night, apparently they have just enough balls to destroy UDD property and not kill us. Must be scared of me."

"Well, that's one perk to being here. Made up for by the long hours though." He yawned to show that he was on his 16th hour of overtime in two days.

"Organize the search, then we'll talk about increasing overtime pay Scott."

"Yes sir," he said, giving a salute that was neither wanted nor required.


	20. Looking Over

Nate walked in to sickbay, and saw Colonel Horn there looking over Asu.

"What are you still doing here Corran? I thought Luke had some Jedi thing for you to do."

Corran turned, the Jedi still in his red UDD uniform from the council meeting.

"I told him that I had to check up on the training standards for the fighter corps."

"Convenient, Rouge Nine. What are you really here for?"

"Keeping an eye on her to make sure you don't forget to tell us anything."

"Well here something you can take back to the rest of the council, in the space of about ten minutes she learned enough scythe techniques that I almost couldn't bring her back alive."

"Are you sure she learned them just then?"

"Yes, right now they're running another complete scan to see where that came from."

"Maybe it came from her."

"Possible, but I doubt it…look, she's coming around."

Asu stirred on the other side of the glass wall of the overnight observation room, her movements slow, as if her entire body was suddenly heavier.

"Maybe it was that drug they pulled from her system?"

"I'm not sure it was that either Corran…maybe an alternate personality that turns on in danger?"

"Wouldn't be the first one I met."

Asu's eyes fullttered open and with sudden quickness she had her back to a wall, threatening them with a Tricorder and a vibroscalpel.

"Stay back!" she yelled at them, swinging both wildly in the air as the doctors and nurses tried to calm her down.

"Corran, could you try to calm her with a mind trick?"

"I don't think it would help, she's just in shock, and it would be better if I didn't mess with her head."

"Alright," he hit the intercom. "Out, we're flooding the room with sleeping gas." The medical personnel left in thirty seconds, and then they hit another button, releasing an odorless gas that would knock Asu out for an hour or so.

"I'm going to work on my Y-wing," Nate said tiredly.

"When are you going to get rid of that thing and get a real fighter?" Corran asked jokingly.

"When you get rid of Whistler," He said walking out.


End file.
